28mm vs 35mm for Street Photography

Summary

The video explores the subtle yet impactful differences between 28mm and 35mm lenses for street photography. Both are popular choices for photographers, offering unique perspectives and challenges. The 28mm lens provides an immersive experience, offering a broader view and depth, which invites the viewer into the scene. However, it also demands a great understanding of composition and can inadvertently emphasize empty spaces. On the other hand, the 35mm lens offers a more concise view, making it easier for photographers to organize elements within a frame while maintaining a comfortable distance from their subjects. The choice between the two depends on individual shooting styles and the desired narrative effect.

Highlights

• 28mm offers an expansive view that pulls viewers into the scene without distorting reality. 🌆
• The wide angle of the 28mm lens allows for creative compositional choices and exaggerated features. 🎥
• 35mm balances context and composition, offering a narrower view that’s easier to manage. 🧐
• Distance is key in choosing your lens. While 28mm might require getting closer, 35mm lets you maintain personal space. 🧍‍♂️↔️📸
• Both lenses require extensive practice to master the nuances of street photography. Practice makes perfect! 📸🏆

Key Takeaways

• 28mm lenses create an immersive street photography experience by offering wider angles and more depth, perfect for telling detailed stories. 📷
• 35mm lenses provide a more concise composition, allowing photographers to keep elements organized while maintaining a comfortable shooting distance. 🖼️
• Choosing between 28mm and 35mm largely depends on your shooting style and the kind of narrative you want to convey. Experiment to find your sweet spot! 🎨
• 28mm lenses can exaggerate emptiness in less crowded environments, which can be a challenge to manage. 🏙️
• 35mm lenses strike a balance by offering context without crowding the frame, ideal for photographers who prefer a bit more structure. ⚖️

Overview

In this video, Doriyan Coleman takes us on a deep dive into the world of street photography, focusing specifically on the use of 28mm and 35mm lenses. Both focal lengths are popular among street photographers, each offering unique benefits. The 28mm lens is praised for its ability to provide a wide, immersive experience, allowing photographers to capture a larger slice of the environment in great detail. However, this lens demands a strong grasp of compositional principles and can highlight empty spaces in less populated areas.

On the other hand, the 35mm lens offers a more structured composition. It enables photographers to organize their shots more easily, as the narrower angle can make it simpler to arrange elements within the frame. This lens is particularly useful for photographers who prefer not to get too close to their subjects, providing a comfortable distance while still capturing the essence of the scene.

Ultimately, the choice between these two lenses depends greatly on personal shooting style and the type of narrative one wishes to convey. Both lenses have their own learning curves and mastering them can enhance one's street photography skills significantly. Doriyan encourages viewers to test each lens to discover which best suits their photographic style and objectives.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Street Photography Historically, the 50mm lens was the most popular for street photography but as time has progressed, many photographers have shifted to wider lenses such as 28mm and 35mm. The choice of lens impacts the approach and results of street photography, especially for those who enjoy capturing the environment and employing zone focusing. While the difference between a 28mm and a 35mm lens is only 7mm in focal length, the effect on the photos is significant.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Characteristics of 28mm Lens The chapter discusses the characteristics and advantages of using a 28mm lens. The 28mm focal length is ideal for inviting viewers into the photographer's world, offering maximum context without excessive distortion. It creates a sense of depth and openness in images. The author contrasts this with their experience using a 35mm lens, suggesting that the 28mm lens captures wider scenes and may be more suitable for certain environments, like the streets of Cleveland.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Composition Techniques with 28mm This chapter explores the unique composition techniques achievable with a 28mm lens. It highlights the versatility of this lens, noting the numerous ways depth and angle of view can influence composition. The chapter emphasizes the excitement of using this lens type, explaining how it allows for subdivision of layers and exaggeration of features based on distance and orientation. The narrative likens the effect to unlocking special effects, as it allows photographers to seamlessly integrate and capture different perspectives.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Personal Space and 28mm Lens The chapter discusses the concept of personal space in the context of photography, specifically when using a 28mm lens. It highlights the challenges of getting too close to subjects, noting that the 28mm lens can often make photographers feel like they are invading someone's personal space. The chapter suggests that a 35mm lens may be less intrusive, and the 28mm lens is not recommended as a first or second choice for street photography. The author shares personal experiences of prioritizing the 28mm lens despite these challenges.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Information and Variation with 28mm The chapter discusses the nuances of using a 28mm lens, specifically in capturing more information and variation in photography. It emphasizes how a wider viewing angle can reveal more details but also potentially highlight the weaknesses in composition, especially in less densely populated environments. The experience is related to capturing interactions within a city like Cleveland, underlining the complexities and challenges that come with such a broad field of view.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Challenges of 28mm in Less Populated Areas This chapter explores the challenges of using a 28mm lens for photography in less populated areas. While wide-angle shots can capture the bustling activity and dense crowds in urban environments, in sparsely populated areas, this lens may exaggerate the emptiness due to its increased depth perception. This can lead to images that look chaotic without a strong grasp of composition principles. Compared to a 35mm lens, which offers a more concise view, mastering the 28mm demands more skill and awareness of what you are seeing and doing.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Conciseness of 35mm Lens The chapter 'Conciseness of 35mm Lens' discusses the advantages of using a 35mm lens for street photography. It highlights the benefit of not needing to be extremely close to subjects, thereby preserving personal space while capturing context. The lens's narrower viewing angle aids photographers in organizing their shots more easily, offering a balance between capturing environmental context and maintaining personal space. The chapter emphasizes that a 35mm lens allows for a middle-ground approach in photographic composition.
• 03:30 - 04:00: 35mm Lens and Cropping The chapter discusses the usage of a 35mm lens in photography, emphasizing the benefits of cropping images. The author shares a personal preference for mild cropping to enhance photos, suggesting this practice can improve the final result without sacrificing natural closeness. They reflect on using a 35mm lens, noting that it allows for comfortable shooting distances without alerting the subject, compared to a 28mm lens which could make the subject aware due to closer distance.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Composition Challenges with 35mm Lens Using a 35mm lens can help you avoid including unnecessary information in a frame, reducing the need for cropping and preserving image resolution. This focal length strikes a balance for photographers who want to capture context while staying close and telling a story. However, the common challenge with using a 35mm lens is that it can make streets feel constricted, thus presenting composition challenges.
• 04:30 - 05:00: Choosing Between 28mm and 35mm The chapter discusses the challenges and creative opportunities that come with choosing between 28mm and 35mm lenses, especially in street photography. It emphasizes the importance of considering your shooting style, as working with these lenses may lead you to get too close to subjects or find yourself limited in space. As a personal anecdote, the author shares their journey of embracing these constraints and mentions their interest in exploring even more restrictive perspectives offered by a 40mm lens. Overall, the chapter highlights the necessity of aligning lens choices with your artistic vision and shooting mission.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Conclusion and Personal Recommendations The chapter discusses the choice between using a 28mm lens for immersive street photography or a 35mm lens for a more organized look. It suggests that while the differences are subtle, photographers should experiment with both to see how these lenses impact their shooting style. The chapter concludes with a recommendation to try both lenses and a note of appreciation for the audience's engagement.

28mm vs 35mm for Street Photography Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 if you go way way back all the way to the age of the dinosaurs there was a time when 50 millimeter was the most popular steep photography focal length many still use it but as they say the longer you do street the wider you go and many of us did just that and two of today's most popular focal lengths for street photography are 28 and 35 millimeter for the environment loving zone focusing street photographer you can't go wrong with either of these a seven millimeter difference in focal length might not seem like much but in execution it makes a world of difference
• 00:30 - 01:00 28 millimeter is the focal length that fully invites your viewer into where you are and gives them as much context as possible into your story without hyper distortion you're figuratively taking the viewer by the hand and inviting them into the frame with you the world the canvas the streets are opened up the amount of depth in a 28 millimeter photograph still surprises me sometimes and that sony's primarily used 35 for years sometimes these cleveland streets don't feel wide enough when i have that 35. having that extra
• 01:00 - 01:30 bit of space makes a world of difference because of the sheer amount of depth and the angle of view being captured there's so many different ways you can arrange a composition with a 28 millimeter lens and it is genuinely exciting you have subdivisions of layers exaggeration of features by distance and depending on whether or not you're aiming upward or downward so many things change and it's like special effects are unlocked you can weave in capture what you're seeing and then weave out just
• 01:30 - 02:00 know that moving in requires you to move in like approaching somebody's ring of personal space in like if you aren't respectful about it protect your neck in i've never really felt like i was in somebody's personal space with 35 millimeter close sure but with 28 it happens often that's actually one of the key reasons why i generally wouldn't recommend a 28 millimeter lens as someone's first or probably even second street photography lens since i began to prioritize using 28 i've been getting
• 02:00 - 02:30 across a greater degree of information regarding cleveland and how the people interact with the city i'm definitely not saying that you can't do that with a 35 millimeter lens but again with higher degrees of information comes higher degrees of variation the toughest challenge i found that maybe some of you while either experienced or can already relate to is that sometimes a viewing angle this wide can emphasize the weak points of your composition of your environment etc if you live in a city that isn't densely populated you aren't going to be able to get those
• 02:30 - 03:00 photos of the thick crowds and layers and layers of action with the whole frame filled in fact you might just end up exaggerating the emptiness of your city due to the increased depth also too if you don't really have a grip on compositional principles it's just going to look like chaos 28 demands a lot from you it gives you more of what you're seeing and more of what you're doing and of course that goes for any focal length in any genre photography 35 millimeter on the other hand is much more concise it's 28 with a
• 03:00 - 03:30 lineup not having to get all up under someone's neck to create a closed street photograph is a relief for anybody who lacks environmental context but still prefers to have their own space while shooting additionally on a balance of probability when it comes to your environmental photographs since the viewing angle isn't super wide you might have an easier time organizing all the information because that viewing angle is a bit more narrow since you can be a bit more middle of the road with 35 as far as spacing goes
• 03:30 - 04:00 on average you'll have an easier time comfortably using it because it requires less to appear close that doesn't mean it's better for you when i think back to a lot of my favorite photographs i'm a pretty big proponent of cropping now not aggressively but i do like to give my photos a little suit and tie every now and again and when i look at the uncropped versions of a lot of these all shot on 35 i know for a fact 28 in these moments would have caused my subject to notice me from this enhanced closeness or
• 04:00 - 04:30 i would have gathered so much more unnecessary info into the frame that i would have had to crop even more than i already did and compromise that sweet sweet resolution 35 being so much more concise but still providing context i think is the happy medium for photographers looking to capture context while still being close and telling the story of those around them the challenge you'll most often see with 35 is that those streets just begin to feel tight and not in a good way as you begin to
• 04:30 - 05:00 get more spicy and inventive with your composition you might find yourself getting too close to people and things and in many cases you just won't have enough room to do what you want it largely depends on shooting style but you might face that i've learned to embrace it and love it in fact i've began to embrace this quality so much that i've had my eyes on 40 millimeter i have whatever it is your mission street photography may be you got to consider that if you want to create the
• 05:00 - 05:30 most immersive visceral street photographs possible buy a 28 millimeter lens move in as deep as possible and buy a mouth guard if you prefer slightly more concise and organized look to your images and prefer not to be directly under the chin of your subjects 35 might be for you in reality these focal lengths are so similar that's going to take a lot of time with both to truly decide how these small differences impact your shooting style so my message to you is to go out and try both but i hope you enjoyed this video thank you for
• 05:30 - 06:00 watching like subscribe if you enjoyed it it takes a lot to get these things done leave a comment if you got something to say and i'll see in the next one